Mother who used IVF feared her premature son would die

ON FRIDAY little Caleb can celebrate his first birthday – a day his mum Amanda Beech thought he'd never see.

As she went into labour at just 28 weeks, the first-time mum feared her tiny son wouldn't survive.

The 41-year-old, from Craigside, Biddulph, had longed for a child for a number of years.

Her mum and uncle gave her the £5,500 she needed to have treatment privately.

And she was elated when the IVF process at the CARE clinic in Manchester brought her the news she'd been dreaming of.

"Me and my husband, who I'm now separated from, had been trying for a baby," she says, "but we split up in 2005 before we started to have IVF, which we had funding for from the PCT.

"When we split up, the funding was withdrawn because I was a single woman."

Amanda, who has polycystic ovary syndrome, was devastated when she lost the funding.

"But my goal was to have IVF – no matter what," she says, "and it didn't worry me I'd be bringing up the baby on my own.

"I had one cycle of IVF with donor sperm at CARE in July 2008 and was so fortunate it worked first time."

Sadly, she lost Caleb's twin in the early stages of pregnancy.

Then when her contractions began she was convinced the other child would not make it either.

"My waters broke while I was in Costa Coffee in Congleton," recalls Amanda, who works for Disability Solutions in Hanley.

"I was in a state of shock."

Amanda went into the University Hospital of North Staffordshire.

A scan revealed the baby was OK, but there was no fluid around him, so Amanda was taken into the labour ward with her mum, Kath Wilshaw.

She says: "I'd started contractions and was convinced my baby wasn't going to make it. He was too little and it was too early.

"Mum was being positive and trying to reassure me, but I was in a state of panic."

Caleb, whose due date was April 21, was delivered by caesarean section on January 29 last year, weighing just 2lb 4oz.

"He was held up to me, this little lobster, and he cried," says Amanda.

"I saw him for a split second and I burst into tears. I really hadn't expected him to survive, but I felt positive because he was crying."

While Caleb was taken to the neonatal unit, Amanda went into the recovery room.

"I was shown a photograph of him when he was an hour old," she says, "and he was in an incubator and had a mask on. There were lots of tubes."

Amanda's milk was fed to her son through a tube.

But this proved a difficult task because she didn't have much milk to express at that early stage.

"However, I was told it was medicine for my baby, which made me determined," she adds.

When Amanda was taken to see Caleb the day after he was born, her natural instinct to hold and hug him had to wait.

"I could put my arm through the incubator and touch his hand and that was it," she says.

Later she could finally take him in her arms.

She says: "It was so lovely, but he was so fragile and tiny. I didn't want to put him back."

Caleb spent seven weeks in the unit and weighed 4lb 5oz when he went home.

But two weeks later Amanda had another scare when Caleb stopped breathing and turned blue.

"Luckily I was with my mum and I did mouth-to-mouth," she says, "but that wasn't working, so I sat him up and hit him on his back.

"He started to breathe again, but was still blue and floppy."

An ambulance was called and Caleb was taken into the Cheethams children's ward for three weeks.

"It was very, very scary and I was in bits," says Amanda. "They discovered he had chronic lung disease, and when he finally came home he had lots of medicine and was on 24-hour oxygen."

Now Caleb is off the oxygen and weighs 19lb 6oz.

He'll celebrate his birthday at a party this Saturday and also a get-together with other families of premature babies next month.

And although Amanda feels "robbed" of her full pregnancy, she's grateful for the support from family, friends and hospital staff.

"Caleb's still on some medicine and needs to visit the hospital frequently, but he's doing really well," she says.

Amanda is organising a race night to raise money for the neonatal unit at the university hospital. It takes place on July 30 at 7.30pm at Cobridge Community Centre, Bursley Road, Cobridge. Tickets are £5.

To find out more, call 07754 745027.